Monday, December 21, 2009

I'm a Qwitter... or Why I Left Twitter

"My dad once told me that the only thing worse than a drunk is a recovered drunk. That’s why I’ve hesitated to write about my decision to leave Facebook (and how serious that sounds! as if I’ve declared that I’m leaving my political party or religion!), and that’s why I decided to not even announce my exit last week before finally finding the magic button...."

At first I was horrified -- because I am a big fan of her writing, and facebook was a great way to see it on a regular basis. Then I read her blog pretty carefully... and then I was inspired.

Inspired to delete my Twitter Account -- just the private, social account --I still have one for work, and that's the job, and I guess that won't change). Reading it, I can still get a local snow report if I need one; hear from my favorite bands; get my national news feeds, and keep up with my real-life friends' whereabouts. I don't expect I'll have a lot to say there, other than reporting news, and work, and chatting with the Readers about that from time to time.

Like Holly, I hasten to point out that I could always change my mind, but right now: it's one less thing to do, and one more way to Unplug. Don't worry, I haven't suddenly become Amish. The BlackBerry isn't going anywhere. I'm not going to stretch a couple cans out on a string between two trees. I should also clarify that I haven't generally found Twitter to be the time-suck I hear about (usually from people who aren't on it) -- as long as you have a working phone, it's an extremely time-efficient way to get caught up.

And best of all: it's kept me off the phone (which I do find to be a prehistoric time-suck) -- if I post that my parents are in town or I'm Yondering or ORounding, nobody wastes time calling me for dinner or movies and other stuff I would do, if I wasn't already occupied.

As for what to do with Facebook, that's next. There's a very public "fan page" there for work. There's even a "facebook fan page" for this blog (the Link NEVER works, so that's up to Intern)-- much as I hate the (Taylor) Swift-ian implications of that.

But the friend profile page that's Me also shares my work name and, as a consequence, is filled with 900 people I don't know and have never met (down from 1500 after a lot of aggressive whittling over the past six months, when I realized this whole thing was getting ahead of me).

I.R.L (in real life, for those who spend their time there and not on facebook), I have maybe seven friends. Not 900. So a change has gotta come.

I am reminded of Bill Maher's New Year's resolution a few years back "to know one less person every day." He has a point. At least when it comes to Strangers.